OUR VIEW | Time is right for Silverdale's local control

In 1985, the unincorporated area known as Silverdale had fewer than 7,000 residents, and was poised for rapid growth with a new shopping mall and submarine base.

By 1999, the area was firmly established as the retail hub of Kitsap County, was surrounded by suburban housing development and apartments, and was home to just less than 15,000, according to the U.S. Census numbers.

Now it’s routinely named as one of the best places to live in Puget Sound and the nation, has expanded the business base beyond Kitsap Mall by attracting name brands like Trader Joe’s, Costco or Bed, Bath and Beyond, and features one of the busiest buildings in the county with the Haselwood Family YMCA.

Those years aren’t just points in time to track the community’s growth. The first two years are when residents were asked whether or not to incorporate as a municipality. Both times the measure was denied. The question is now with voters in a redistricted area for a third time, with ballots due Feb. 12.

The nearly three decades demonstrate a time of continued change for the area considered Silverdale. A rural area has become significantly more urbanized, with businesses and much denser residential areas bringing both good and bad: a solid tax base and amenities like parks, on one hand, traffic and road deterioration on the other.

Dealing with those growing pains has been the job of county government. As the county’s Boundary Review Board deemed after hearings, Kitsap County has done an adequate job of providing necessary infrastructure and services.

But political representation on the level that a city of 17,000 should expect is not adequate today with one commissioner, working nearly 20 miles away in Port Orchard. Civic involvement also suffers when the only outlet is a nonelected community council that may basically only adopt recommendations.

Standards for building design or traffic changes are determined by representatives who are not necessarily in Silverdale.

The future growth of the community, which would be among the top 50 in the state as a city, is better determined by a government closer to the people. That’s why, on the third attempt at becoming an official city, we endorse a “yes” vote on Kitsap County Proposition 1 for Silverdale Incorporation.

We don’t dismiss the threats. But calculations show that property taxes will initially remain the same or slightly drop, and tax creep is just as possible at the county level as it is for a city, particularly when a county government staffs to handle the issues density brings. Incorporation puts the control over tax rates in the hands of elected representatives — and Silverdale residents, particularly incorporation proponents, should be vigilant against a spending splurge. Spending may occur, of course, but ideally only on amenities or services residents desire — like infrastructure the county has delayed — after a vigorous debate that citizens would be more invested in than with the current setup. And if a council becomes spendthrift against the citizens’ wishes, the great tool of democracy lets us vote ‘em out.

Incorporation could also ultimately benefit the rest of the county, by allowing county government to focus on serving its rural constituents and allowing Kitsap’s cities to serve the denser areas identified by the state’s Growth Management Act. And partnerships forged through contracting police service could, in the long run, lead to better service all around.

That’s all to say that the time has come for Silverdale, a city in characteristic and makeup more than ever but still not in name, to take the step. Growth isn’t stopping within its boundaries — one need only to look at opportunities along Greaves Way or development plans north of Waaga Way. The residents most affected by those changes need more say in the city’s direction — and will achieve that appropriately through incorporation.

On the third attempt to become an officially recognized city, we endorse a “yes” on Kitsap County Proposition 1.

Our View opinion columns are written from the consensus perspective of the Kitsap Sun's Editorial Board, made up of Publisher Charles Horton, Editor David Nelson, Opinion Editor Emeritus Jim Campbell, Finance Director Kevin Reid, and community members Carol Ehlinger, Margaret Loveless, Garry Porter and Morgan Seeley. The opinions expressed are not those of Kitsap Sun reporters or newsroom editors.